A conceptual model of inclusive technology for information access by the rural sector

Abstract

In recent years, a growing number of projects seek to address the disparity in opportunities available to people in rural versus urban areas through Information and Communication Technologies. When introducing such technologies, there are a number of recognised barriers to their use and acceptance specific to rural areas. We define an 'inclusive technology' as a technology which overcomes the barriers in using technology that are inherent within a community in order to increase the available opportunities. We propose a conceptual model and a set of heuristic measurements for evaluating the 'inclusiveness' of a technology with respect to a given community, and illustrate our model by applying it to an actual real-world project. With this model we hope to achieve a better understanding of the problem, and develop a systematic process and framework for designing and evaluating technologies designed to overcome these disparities. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.